Lodi council OKs mention of Jesus

Thursday

Oct 1, 2009 at 12:01 AM

LODI - In Jesus' name they'll pray.

Daniel Thigpen

LODI - In Jesus' name they'll pray.

With the nation's everlasting debate over the separation of church and state centered squarely on Lodi, the town's elected leaders Wednesday asked for a new policy that would allow religious leaders to offer uncensored prayers before City Council meetings.

A formal policy will be drafted by city staff. No timeline was given.

With a unanimous vote before an auditorium full of churchgoers and atheists alike, council members chose to abandon existing yet seldom enforced rules that the regular invocations avoid the name of Jesus Christ and any other religious deities.

"I personally regret the decision this council made to have prayers that were nondenominational and nonsectarian," Mayor Larry Hansen said before the vote. "I believe the right decision is to set up a policy that allows uncensored prayers by anybody in this community who is a recognized part of the clergy."

More than 700 people packed into the Hutchins Street Square auditorium for the four-hour-plus public hearing. Nearly 50 of them, divided nearly evenly over the issue, cited Bible scripture and legal rulings in their personal appeals to the city's elected leaders.

Pastor Dale Edwards of the Century Assembly Church in Lodi, one of many local clergy who spoke in favor of unrestricted invocations, said he could not follow a nonsectarian policy that he said infringed on his constitutional rights.

"I'm one of the culprits that's been guilty of praying in Jesus' name (at council meetings) unashamedly and proudly," he said. "For me to come to this dais and pray a generic prayer is meaningless to me."

Others said the pre-meeting prayers are unfairly dominated by the town's majority Christian clergy.

"If three times, if three times only, the prayer would have ended with 'Praise be to Allah,' (city policy) would have been enforced," said Lodi resident Robin Rushing, who said he is a Buddhist. "I'm asking you to enforce the rules that you people have made."

Hansen, who said he'd received more than 1,400 e-mails on the issue, called Wednesday's public hearing after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based organization that fights to keep religion out of government, sent Lodi a stern warning in May that most pastors leading prayers at council meetings invoke the name of Jesus Christ, violating city policy and various court decisions.

The city's rules were modeled after a 2002 2nd District Court of Appeals ruling that prayers at city meetings could contain references to God, but mentioning Jesus' name violated the First Amendment clause prohibiting the establishment of a state religion.

In 1983, U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled invocations were permissible at government meetings so long as the prayers aren't used to proselytize. Since then, numerous courts throughout the country have weighed in on the issue, with varying opinions.

In the hour before the packed gathering commenced, several dozen people rallied outside the 900-seat auditorium, some lugging Bibles, others toting posters denouncing the prayers.

While much smaller and milder than a raucous rally held in August, a few small arguments broke out among folks in opposing camps as emotions simmered. Many people came from beyond Lodi to speak out.

"I don't pray, and if I did, I wouldn't want the government to tell me when to pray or who to pray to," said Ina Rodman, 59, who carpooled from the East Bay to join a small group of atheists and other advocates for church-state separation.

She, like others, preferred a moment of silence before City Council meetings instead of prayer.

"Just sit there and reflect on your toenails or God. Whatever you want," she said.

A couple hundred yards away, Lodi resident Marvin Smith, 65, sat underneath a flagpole and strummed his guitar to the tune "There is Power in His Blood," wearing a "Pick Jesus" T-shirt.

"Tonight, this is where the rubber meets the road," he said between songs. "This is my way of standing up for Christ."

Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce said the prayers set a positive tone for the public meetings.

"To deny the rights of the many who want to pray for the few who do not," she said. "I don't understand when we became a society that is so oversensitive."